Have you ever wanted to travel the world? Why haven’t you? What has stopped you? Some people do it seemingly with little more than a backpack and a smile. Others live the jet-set life in luxurious places most only know from Bond films. Everyone who wants to travel but hasn’t done so has one of 7 major obstacles or objections. There may be variations on the theme, but it’s always one of the 7 majors.

Anil Polat has been traveling the world since 2006. Where many people wish and hope to “someday” travel, he has actually been out doing it. Like most long-term travelers, he regularly comes into contact with people who tell him they wish they could do what he does, and quickly give him a list of reasons why they can’t do it.

He has gathered the 7 major obstacles he regularly hears on the road and from polling his readers. He intended to just write up a few quick tips on how to overcome these popular travel objections, but the series ended up taking on a life of it’s own. Valuable input came from readers who wanted to share their experiences or attempts to overcome these travel objections, as well as advice from several other world travelers who had already overcome them.

Anil gathered this information together for his ebook, Overcoming the 7 Major Obstacles to Traveling the World. The book breaks down each objection to get to the heart of the real issue, and shows how simply anyone can overcome these perceived barriers. Included are numerous useful links to help you realize your travel goals and helpful information and advice from world travel veterans John Bardos, Marina Villatoro, Dan’s Adventure, The Q Family Adventures, Deb and Dave, Akila & Patrick of The Road Forks, and Cody McKibben of Thrilling Heroics.

Purchase of this ebook for $8.00 also includes updates and expanded information as it becomes available. Two lattes worth of money for a book that can help you get out and see the world is a fair trade to me.

If you have fantasies of long-term travel, you can turn them into realities with Overcoming the 7 Major Obstacles to Traveling the World. What’s stopping you from following your travel dreams?

Overcoming the 7 Obstacles to Traveling the World is a post from: Live Collar Free

The popular Chris Farley skit on Saturday Night Live had him play a “motivational speaker” who lived in a van down by the river. It was his way of telling his audience that they would become failures and also end up living in a van down by the river. Most people would probably be surprised to know that there are thousands of people who live in vans all around the world. They do this not because they have failed. They live in vans willingly and are doing well.

We’ve featured interviews with Adventure Photographer and vandweller Trevor Clark here before (Part 1 & Part 2), and we have more features in the queue. Readers have told us they love his 4×4 Sportsmobile Van, as it is one of the best vehicles you can buy for a camper-type van.

Several people have asked us how to live like this. They have told us they would like to do what Trevor and so many others do, but usually follow it with a long list of reasons why they can’t. Why would someone want to live in a van instead of a house? How would they go about doing so? Most of the questions are asked in the “yeah but…” format, as it does seem like such an odd thing to much of the population. A lot of people have a lot of questions.

VanAbode

Jason Odom has spent years on the road, living out of a van. His approach is slightly different, using a nondescript van that blends in anywhere, rather than an RV or trailer. He and his wife have spent years on the road, living wherever they feel like being at any given time. They have gone from coast to coast, exploring the country.

Jason also got constant questions about how to create such a different lifestyle. He wrote a book of his experiences as a how-to for anyone considering living this way, called Vanabode™ – how to happily camp, travel and live forever on $20 a day.  He sent me a copy to read since I was getting so many questions, and he knew it would be of interest to me.

Some of the topics covered include:

• Vehicle choice and outfitting.
• Parking and camping considerations in every type of area.
• Safety and Security (which seems to be the most popular worry among readers).
• Money, savings and budget breakdowns.

The self-published book is 113 pages, and filled with tips and techniques for making the most of your time, money, and enjoyment while living in a van. The book covers a variety of tips and techniques to overcome the most common objections, as well as a tremendous amount of options. Everyone wants something a little different, and it covers a range of ideas for living in a van no matter what your situation.

As Jason says, “Vanaboding is about spending time living a fun life rather than spending money trying to buy a fun life.” They aren’t homeless, they are home wherever they park their vehicle, sleeping in their own bed every night. They aren’t starving, they eat at some of the nicest restaurants in cities all over the country.

They do more, spend less and have more freedom than the average person working too many hours a week to keep up their mortgage and toy payments. Whether you are ready to sell off your house and live full-time in a van or RV, or you just want a way to get more time and money out of family vacations, I think you’ll find Vanabode will answer any lingering questions or doubts.

Go check out his site and grab the book. If you think people living in their vehicles are just down on their luck, you may come to realize that the people living in a van down by the river might very well be living better than the rest of us.

Do you know anyone who lives in their vehicle? Have you ever lived in a van? Would you ever try it? Let us know your thoughts and experiences in the comments below.

Vanabode: Home is Where the Van is Parked is a post from: Live Collar Free

I’ve said before on this site that LiveCollarFree.com is not exclusive to one “system” or style of Lifestyle Design. There are so many ways to live outside of the default life we learn we should fit into, and they all fascinate me.

Much of what I’ve done with my life has been to downsize. Toys are fun, but the stuff we accumulate takes a toll: moving it, storing it, insuring it, cleaning it, maintaining it, ad nauseum. We learn in the U.S. that we need to own a house and that all adults need a car. We are a car culture, and have been since they came about. Cars are one of the biggest purchases and expenses in most families. But do we really need a car to work and live today?

I have followed Tammy Strobel’s Rowdy Kittens blog for a bit over a year, now. She and her partner Logan decided to downsize their life, cut down their needless belongings, and even go so far as to sell their cars. Now they get around on bicycles almost exclusively and it works better for them. They calculated that their cars cost them nearly $8,000 a year to keep! And they had economy cars! How many hours of work does that total each year just to own a car? It makes me sick to think about how much I’ve spent over the years.

Tammy & Logan have improved their health, saved a tremendous amount of money, and lived a simpler, more fulfilling green lifestyle since their decision to scale down.

Simply Car-Free

Today, Tammy released her first book: Simply Car-Free: How to Pedal Toward Financial Freedom and a Healthier Life. I read an advance copy and can tell you it is a fantastic resource for planning and living in today’s world without the need to own a car.

It seems like such a foreign concept in most areas of modern America, but life without a car is not only quite possible but is very liberating. Tammy lays out a solid plan to make the car-free lifestyle simple to achieve. The Book goes through the process they went through, as well as how to make it even easier (they made their transition slowly and now wonder why they took so long).

She does an excellent job of covering all the “what-if…?” scenarios that come up when we talk about life without a car. Across America or even the world, not everyone’s lifestyle and community allows as simple a transition into a Car-Free life, but there are ways around most objections. Alternatives to going completely car-free are also covered, and how to handle situations that come up that all but require cars, such as long trips or moving.

The section on bicycling is also very in-depth. Whether you are a cyclist or just starting out, there are many valuable resources inside to cover what you need to know about bikes, as well as dealing with everyday issues like weather and getting groceries.

If you already live without a car or have never considered such a thing, Simply Car-Free is a good tool that collects resources from a variety of people already living this way all over the country. I am not just writing this review because I am a blogger buddy of Tammy’s. In March 2008, I got rid of my truck, and haven’t had a car or other vehicle since. I’ll do more about my situation in another post and link it here, but I know this topic very well as I have had probably close to 20 cars in my life (and 16 motorcycles that I can remember).

Simply Car-Free is a great resource for anyone considering life without a motor vehicle.

Simply Car-Free: Living Without a Car is a post from: Live Collar Free

Crush It! - Cover

Gary Vaynerchuk is the founder of the popular and long-running video blog at Wine Library TV, also known as the Thunder Show. He began to parlay his success with the show into speaking on the subject of business in today’s world, and now has a NY Times Best-selling book out called “Crush It!: Why NOW Is the Time to Cash In on Your Passion“.

I had heard of Gary about a year ago through Tim Ferriss’ blog. I watched a few minutes of his show but wasn’t very interested. I don’t drink wine, so I didn’t care about the topic (like he VERY obviously did). He seemed kind of funny, but I was too busy to watch a show about wine, and didn’t think much more about it.

A few months ago, I started to hear friends mention this wine guy, both online and in meatspace. I saw he had this book coming out and watched a short keynote speech he gave at a Web 2.0 event.

In the video he gave a passionate, cussword-laden speech about the nature of business and changing times. Everything he said was very spot-on, and got me digging into more of his thoughts on business.

“Crush It!” expands on his business keynotes, filling in details about the how and why of the changing business world. It’s embedded below if you don’t have children or nuns in the room with you.

In short, I loved the book. I bought a copy locally the week it came out, then ordered another through Amazon to pass along to someone else.

Reinventing the Rules of Business

Getting into business used to be a lot more difficult when the gatekeepers of the big media outlets were the only game in town (radio, tv and print). The little guy could perhaps compete on a very local level, but it took huge dollars to get seen by the masses in years past. With the largely free tools available to anyone with access to the internet, you can get your brand seen by more and more people every day.

This is in no way a “Get-Rich-Quick” book. The 3 major tenets in the first chapter of the “Crush It” method are:

Love your family.
Work superhard.
Live your passion.

Hardly a get-rich-quick strategy unless you skip all the parts where he talks about working until your eyeballs bleed instead of playing video games or watching tv.

Several times throughout the book, he talks about the realities of how hard you will have to work to make even a decent living like you may make at your current job. As he says, if you are even 1% unhappy with your job, you should work to change it. He does NOT suggest quitting your job to become a blogger. But if you want a change and do something you love, work your ass off after work until you can get to that place.

Hustle

Hard work and hustle is the theme of the book that he never lets the reader forget. He goes into more detail about starting out for the person who may be completely new to the “social media” scene. It is not a “one size fits all” approach to what specifically every person should do for a living, but a good starter.

There are several examples you could follow that will open your eyes and get you thinking. It’s not about selling chotchkies and passing that off as a living. It’s about working hard, becoming known as an expert in your field and doing something that will make your grandkids proud.

Passion

We all have something we are passionate about. Something we would be doing if we didn’t have to work (that job that makes you unhappy. If you’re already 100% happy this doesn’t apply). There are ways to do what we are passionate about, and make a decent living doing so.

You may not get filthy rich doing it, but there are so many ways to make a living, it only makes sense to use the tools you have nowadays. These tools have made it far simpler to get started and reach a greater audience than in the past.

It’s still a big deal for Gary to get on the Today Show and do a little sniffy-sniff with Matt Lauer, but advertisers are spending more and more money on internet platforms. The numbers of people watching each medium is changing daily. The little guys without the big budgets of the mainstream media channels are able to be competitive in this rapidly-changing world. Money follows the attention. More attention is on these internet tools every day.

Work your face off, and you can build a business that thrives, doing something you love to do. This book is a good starting place to start getting the ideas flowing. Get the book and give it a quick read. It is very short and you’ll get through it in a spare hour or two.

I don’t work for Gary, have never met him, and am not being paid to say any of this other than if people use my affiliate links above to order the book. In that case, I’ll make a couple pennies. I still don’t drink wine, but when it comes to business, I agree with what he says. As busy as he is, Gary answers emails and twitter comments. If there is anything you find unclear about the book, he tries to answer any questions. You can find him on WLTV or view his keynote speeches and other thoughts on business at GaryVaynerchuk.com.

Crush It! Work Your Face Off with Gary Vaynerchuk is a post from: Live Collar Free

If you aren’t yet familiar with Jonathan Mead of Illuminated Mind, now is a good time to start. Jonathan is a Life Coach and popular Personal Development Blogger who quit his “regular job” to live on his own terms.

I originally became aware of him about a year ago after seeing his contributing posts over on Leo Babauta’s popular blog, Zen Habits. I immediately subscribed to his blog Illuminated Mind, and have since talked a bit with Jonathan on his blog, Twitter, and over on the Black Sheep Project forums that he started. He asked me if I wanted to read his book one day and I was happy to get a copy to give a quick read through.

I realized when he sent it over that this was no sloppy ebook thrown together as a quick collection of past blog posts or regurgitated self-help platitudes.

“Reclaim Your Dreams: An Uncommon Guide To Living On Your Own Terms” is written in Mead’s typically eloquent yet blunt style. It only starts by laying out a step-by-step process for accomplishing the goals set out for the reader. But part two leads us through the process of stripping away any limiting beliefs about what we can or should do with the short life we are given, then it gives us the tools to figure out how get to what we want out of life.

“If you’re not enjoying life, you’re failing. It doesn’t matter if you have a yacht, a BMW, or a six-figure income. If you don’t wake up happy on a daily basis, you’re losing at the game of life.”

As I said, it does not just give you a smattering of tips and hints to change your life. It is no easy task to overcome years of the programming we get from the mainstream. Mead doesn’t snap his magic author fingers and heal your woes or tell you how you need to live your life. That’s for you to figure out. You’re the only one living your life, so make sure you are living your best way.

As Jonathan says, the main purpose of the book is to align your heart and mind. Too often we are in conflict. We don’t do what our heart wants for the sake of practicality or safety, leaving us in a constant state of conflict with ourselves.

There are plenty of exercises and tasks to help guide you to work through each section of the process. You aren’t getting through this one by just a quick browse in your dentist’s waiting room. You could just breeze right through it, but you’d only be short-changing yourself. For it to truly be of any benefit to you, you really need to take some action and complete the exercises.

If you are looking for a quick read or are just going to buy it and leave it sitting unread on your hard drive, then save the few bucks. I am a voracious reader and am always looking for quality information to learn. This is one you need to study.

If you are unhappy with the way your life is heading, even if you’ve always done what you were told was the right thing (quite often it really isn’t, you may be figuring out by now), this book will  open your eyes to the possibilities.

Disclosure: Jonathan did give me a copy of the book to read and review. If you buy it, I don’t make affiliate commissions or anything else. He gave it to me a couple of months before this blog was even online. Jonathan gave me a copy for free because he knows I’m awesome. He knows that if I thought his book sucked, I would say so.  So don’t buy it for me, go buy it for yourself here.

Book Review: Reclaim Your Dreams is a post from: Live Collar Free